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// No Matter What, I'm Going to Save You 
// Story: I Don't Want to Grow Up 
// by Lightning Star 
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Spike ran as fast as he could through the cave. “I’m sorry.” He whispered to himself. He knew that Twilight would never stop trying to help him. In the end it would all be pointless and she would end up hurting herself. Or worse, he might hurt her. He exited the cave and prepared to climb higher up the mountain. 
“Just where the hay do you think you’re going?” Applejack shouted, causing Spike to fall down. “Ya’ll better not be trying to run away from Twilight.”
“Applejack just leave me alone!” Spike shouted.
Applejack squatted down and got to eye level with Spike. “Now listen Spike, I know you have a reason for leaving, but did you stop to think how Twilight feels?” Spike tried to talk, but Applejack just kept going on. “She’s been worrying her flank off about you.”
“I don’t care!” Spike tried to make a break down the mountain, but Winona jumped in front of him and growled.
“Now I know that’s not true. You care about her just as much as she cares about you.”
“I know but if I don’t run away I’ll hurt her!”
“Spike, I guarantee you that you’ll hurt her even more if you do.”
Twilight came running out of the cave with tears in her eyes. “Spike!” She shouted. “Please don’t leave me!”
Spike started to growl. “Why can’t you all just understand that me running away is the only option?!”
Applejack rested her hoof on Spike’s shoulder. “Cause it isn’t. Spike I promise you, whatever the problem is we’ll work to fix it.”
“I can’t be fixed!” Spike shouted. 
“Spike, nothing’s impossible.” Twilight said. “I’ll do it! I promise I’ll stop you from growing up!”
“DON’T MAKE BUCKING PROMISES YOU CAN’T KEEP!” Spike shouted.
Twilight was petrified. She collapsed and cried uncontrollably.
Applejack scowled. “Ok, now you’ve done it. I’m going to give you to the count of three to apologize and say you’re coming back. One.” Spike said nothing. “Two.” He remained silent. “Three.” Still nothing. “Ok fine. You brought this on yourself.” Applejack quickly spun around and bucked Spike in the head. He fell to the ground unconscious.
Twilight gasped and leaped to her hoofs. “APPLEJACK!”
“Relax sugar cube, I didn’t hurt him…too much.”  
“At least now we can bring him back home.” 
Spike was brought back home and Twilight informed all of her friends on the situation.
“Why that’s absolutely dreadful!” Rarity gasped. “How noble of Spike to leave just to protect you. He truly is an extraordinary friend.”
“Yeah,” Twilight said, not the least bit cheerful. “I’m going to make sure he doesn’t have to leave in order to protect me.”
“I don’t know,” Pinkie said. “Being a big dragon might be cool! He could fly around and light pony’s houses on fire. He can eat all of the big nasty bad guys and…” Twilight shot a scowl that could freeze the sun at Pinkie. “Sorry…”
Twilight told all of her friends to leave because had a lot of work to do. She walked down to her library. Spike was in the center of the room frozen inside a crystal. This crystal would suspend him in time, stopping his aging process. But he would be unconscious the entire time, and it required Twilight’s magic to keep it up. 
“I promise,” She whispered. “I promise that when you wake up that everything will be ok.” She took a book off of the shelves and checked through it. 
That day was the last anypony had seen or heard from Twilight. The door to her house never opened. Ponies peered into the windows but couldn’t see her. No noises ever came from the house. Every knock at her door was never answered. Her friends grew worried over time. They made attempts to enter her house, but Twilight had put a magic seal on the locks and windows to ensure she had no distractions from her work. 
Two weeks passed and there was not a single trace of Twilight Sparkle. Princess Celestia eventually became worried that she had not received a letter from her student for such a large amount of time. What fueled her fears even more was the fact that every attempt she had made to send a letter was unsuccessful. Her fears grew so strong that she sent Shining Armor to check on her. 
Shining Armor’s chariot was met with grim glances one it arrived. Whenever he asked somepony if they knew where his sister was, they would nod their head and reply “At her house.” So Shining Armor went to his younger siblings house. He tried to open the door but it was locked.
He knocked on the door. “Twilight are you home?” He called. “Twili it’s me, Shining Armor. Princess Celestia sent me to make sure you were ok.” No response. He examined the door and noticed the magic seal on it. He undid it using his own magic and entered the house. Twilight was not in the main room or her bedroom. He opened the door to the library and slowly descended into the dark room. When he used his horn to illuminate the room, he nearly had a heart attack at what he saw. “TWILI!”